It happens sometimes that there’s something to share about a text that doesn’t fit with the direction of the sermon. This excerpt is from the sermon on August 11, 2019. The text is Romans 8:18-39, and was inspired by the words of Dr. Aida Weran, lecturer at the Nile Theological College in Kartouhm, Sudan: “Hope for tomorrow gives us strength to make it through the suffering of today.” The sermon itself focused on the hope that comes from God, even in the midst of our suffering. However, in light of recent shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, and the funerals for the victims of those shootings, I wanted to share the following:
Today of all days, I need to throw something in here…because…it’s just on my heart…about suffering. In the last week I’ve read a lot of headlines and reports wondering who will do what, who said what (that shouldn’t have), and what will happen now. And I also know that it sometimes seems like an easy platitude to use words that roll off our tongues too easily, full of good intentions and sometimes poor follow through, “pray for the people who’ve lost,” “you’re in our thoughts and prayers,” “we suffer with you.” But the truth is, and Aida would tell you this, that there will be no hope for healing until the suffering is acknowledged. And it’s one thing I haven’t really seen too much of. Anger, division, blame…and I wonder what would happen if we allowed ourselves to lament, to suffer with and for those whose lives have been torn apart. I know, it’s hard, because it makes us feel like we’re weak, to acknowledge the pain. Paul here, though, says that it is the Holy Spirit who “intercedes with sighs and groans too deep for words” (or – as one scholar paraphrased the Greek – the Spirit groans with our groaning.) The Spirit groans with us and for us and in us, calling out from our place of suffering to the God who redeems us through the suffering of Jesus Christ.
Rev. Dr. Melodie Jones Pointon
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